Breakdown of Nágranninn sem er að spjalla við eigandann er hjálpsamur.
vera
to be
að
to (infinitive marker)
nágranninn
the neighbor
sem
who / which / that
hjálpsamur
helpful
spjalla
to chat
við
with (talking with)
eigandinn
the owner
Questions & Answers about Nágranninn sem er að spjalla við eigandann er hjálpsamur.
Why does the preposition við make eigandann (the owner) accusative, if this lesson focuses on dative prepositions?
While prepositions of position like undir (under) and yfir (over) often take the dative case to show location, við operates differently here. When við means "with" or "to" in the context of talking or interacting (like að spjalla við, to chat with), it requires the accusative case. That is why we use the accusative form eigandann.
Both nágranninn and eigandann end in -nn. Are they in the same case?
No, they are actually in different cases! Both are masculine "weak" nouns, meaning they end in a vowel in their basic dictionary forms (nágranni and eigandi). Nágranninn is in the nominative case because he is the subject of the sentence. Eigandann is in the accusative case because it follows the preposition við. For this specific group of masculine nouns, the definite article forms happen to look very similar and both end in -nn.
How does the word sem work in this sentence?
Sem is a relative pronoun meaning "who", "which", or "that". It is a very friendly word for learners because it is indeclinable, meaning it never changes its spelling! It stays exactly the same regardless of the gender, number, or case of the noun it refers back to.
Why does the adjective hjálpsamur (helpful) end in -ur?
Hjálpsamur is describing the main subject of the sentence, nágranninn (the neighbor). Because nágranninn is a masculine singular noun in the nominative case, the adjective must match it. The standard ending for strong masculine nominative singular adjectives is -ur.
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